SOUNDTRACK: LAND OF KUSH-Against the Day [CST058] (2008).
Land of Kush is a huge orchestra created by Sam Shalibi. Shalibi is a maniac of independent releases, creating everything from orchestral pieces to solo records all with his unique blend of middle eastern tinged music (featuring his oud playing).
This album is inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s Against the Day, a book I have not read. As such, I can’t say if the music works with the book, or indeed if the songs with lyrics have anything to do with the book at all. The liner notes essay that Shalibi wrote reveal his deep appreciation for the book and how it made him hear this music. Pretty neat. Against the Day the book is over 1,000 pages, so I won’t be getting to it anytime soon.
The CD has 5 tracks: three of them about 8 minutes, one at 14 minutes and the centerpiece comes in at 21 minutes. To read more than I’m going to say about this band and the album, check out the Constellation Records page.
In general, I find Shalibi’s music to be fascinating, but sometimes a bit much. He is not afraid to pull out all the stops. And I think that’s to his credit. He does free jazz, psychedelic and middle eastern phrasing, often within one song. And while it’s often very enjoyable, it can also be exhausting.
And that is the case with this disc. The 21 minute “Bilocations” is such a brilliant piece of music. The main musical line is just fantastic: middle eastern instruments playing a sort of James Bond type suspense theme. And the vocals are simply amazing. The singer (and I regret to say I’m not sure which one she is) is snarling and sexy and brings the whole piece to life. I’ve never heard anyone say “economics” with such emotion before. And I enjoy probably the first 15 or 16 minutes of it. The last five drifts into a sort of solo for voice which gets a bit tiresome, actually, especially after the intensity of the first part.
And yet it is then followed up by the last two songs, each about 8 minutes long, again with fantastic motifs that propel these weird and wild pieces beyond the middle eastern psychedelic soundscapes into actual songs.
Despite my amorphous criticisms (I think that the disc is just too long to appreciate in one sitting (and I find middle eastern music is hard for me to digest in more than small doses)) this is my favorite of Shalibi’s releases. And some day I hope to read the book, too.
[READ: September 19th ish 2009] short uncollected pieces
This is my second (and final, I think) review of multiple DFW uncollected pieces. There are a few uncollected pieces left that I’m going to read, but they’re all longer and will likely deserve their own post. Most of these pieces are very short, and I don’t have all that much to say about them. But, heck, I’m a pseudo-complestist, so I want to have them all here.
All the text in bold, including the links comes from (where else?) The Howling Fantods. Thanks! (more…)
I Just Read About That... 